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VIERNES 27 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2020 | Año XLV | Número 15.839 | EDICIÓN MADRID | Precio: 1,70 euros
Acusar a las Trece Rosas de “violar y asesinar” no es delito P20
TRIBUNALES
“No hemos sabido leer qué hay debajo de la pandemia” P27 RAÚL ZURITA
El Supremo cierra la puerta a la semilibertad de los presos del 1-O Los magistrados se inclinan por estimar el recurso de la Fiscalía contra el tercer grado a los líderes independentistas por su falta de arrepentimiento REYES RINCÓN, Madrid El Tribunal Supremo se inclina por que el exvicepresidente de la Generalitat Oriol Junqueras y los otros presos del procés sigan encarcelados sin disfrutar de la semilibertad de la que gozaron durante unos días el verano pasado. La
Sala de lo Penal deliberó ayer sobre la mitad de los recursos presentados por la Fiscalía contra la concesión del tercer grado a los condenados por sedición y los de estos contra su suspensión cautelar. El tribunal, según las fuentes consultadas, optó por rechazar
los argumentos de los presos y apoyar el recurso del fiscal de revocar los cambios de grado concedidos en julio por la Generalitat, que tiene transferidas las competencias en materia penitenciaria. Tomó en cuenta para ello la falta de arrepentimiento. La decisión
sobre la semilibertad de los presos del procés está en manos de los magistrados que juzgaron y sentenciaron el caso. De los nueve condenados por el delito de sedición, solo Carme Forcadell y Dolors Bassa disfrutan actualmente del tercer grado. PÁGINA 15
Ciudadanos votará no a los Presupuestos por los pactos con ERC y Bildu Ábalos ofrece a Podemos prohibir los desahucios durante la alarma J. CASQUEIRO / X. HERMIDA, Madrid La líder de Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas, confirmó ayer el voto negativo de su partido a los Presupuestos del Estado para 2021, en los que el Gobierno tendrá el apoyo de ERC, PNV y Bildu. Arrimadas acusó a Pedro Sánchez de haber elegido “la radicalidad de Junqueras y Otegi” frente a su oferta “centrada y moderada”. Entretanto, el ministro de Transportes, José Luis Ábalos, ofreció a Unidas Podemos una prohibición de los desahucios hasta el fin del estado de alarma. PÁGINAS 16 Y 17
El banco suizo ocultó internamente la identidad de Juan Carlos I
MULTITUDINARIO ADIÓS A MARADONA EN ARGENTINA. Decenas de miles de personas abarrotaron en Buenos Aires los alrededores de la Casa Rosada, el palacio presidencial, donde se instaló la capilla ardiente del futbolista, fallecido el miércoles a los 60 años. Las colas para rendirle honores medían kilómetros y las normas de distancia social saltaron por los aires. / RICARDO MORAES (REUTERS) PÁGINAS 32 A 39 / EDITORIAL EN LA PÁGINA 10
IAN LIPKIN
Epidemiólogo
“Habrá que vacunar de covid a los bebés para siempre” NUÑO DOMÍNGUEZ, Madrid El epidemiólogo Ian Lipkin, director del Centro de Infección e Inmunidad de la Universidad de Columbia, cree que la vida no volverá a la normalidad previa a la pandemia. “Vamos a vivir el resto de nuestras vidas con este virus; no va a desaparecer”, afirma en una entrevista. “Habrá que vacunar a
los recién nacidos para siempre y, probablemente, tendremos que dar dosis adicionales de recuerdo a los ya vacunados”. Este experto es optimista sobre la eficacia de las vacunas. “Estas vacunas más la inmunidad asociada a la infección real harán que a partir de 2022 veamos una reducción drástica de muertes”. PÁGINA 23
JOSÉ MARÍA IRUJO, Madrid La banca suiza Mirabaud & Cie ocultó con celo la identidad del rey emérito Juan Carlos I en la cuenta donde recibió una transferencia de 65 millones de Arabia Saudí, según la declaración de su principal responsable, Yves Mirabaud, al fiscal Yves Bertossa. Solo seis miembros del llamado Consejo de Asociados de la entidad sabían que era el beneficiado. El formulario se conservaba en una caja fuerte. PÁGINA 18
Turquía impone 337 cadenas perpetuas por el golpe de 2016 ANDRÉS MOURENZA, Estambul Un tribunal turco condenó ayer a 333 militares y cuatro civiles a penas de cadena perpetua por su participación en el fallido intento de golpe de Estado de julio de 2016. Después de tres años de proceso, la sentencia constituye una dura respuesta a esta asonada, durante la que se produjeron 251 muertes, y que fue seguida de una deriva autoritaria del régimen de Tayyip Erdogan. PÁGINA 2
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latimes.com
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2020
Feeling thankful amid a COVID surge
JUSTICES REJECT LIMITS ON WORSHIP Court blocks a state’s COVID-19 rules for the first time in a New York case on the size of religious gatherings.
Healthcare workers battling a rise in cases are grateful to be able to help on the holiday.
By David G. Savage
By Kevin Rector and Sarah Parvini Chris Varjabedian’s first stop after picking up his grandmother Zizi from her nursing facility was the salon. She hadn’t left the Mission Hills nursing home since March, before the COVID-19 pandemic erupted locally, and needed to get her hair and nails done if she was going to be home — finally — for the big holiday. “She was on Cloud Nine, like being in Disneyland,” said Varjabedian, 34. “She’s really happy and in good spirits, and grateful to spend Thanksgiving with her family.” Limited outdoor visits and calls from behind windows just hadn’t been enough for Varjabedian, who stops by Ararat Nursing Facility every Sunday to spend time with his grandmother — with whom he got extra close after his father’s death. So, after the better part of a year apart and a family decision that ensuring Zizi’s mental health was worth the risk of bringing her home, they did just that on Wednesday. “It’s so rewarding,” said his mother, Suzy Varjabedian, of seeing Zizi light up at the chance of being with family again. In a normal year, Thanksgiving is a festive time at many hospitals, nursing homes and other care facilities. Family members of patients stream in to pick up their loved ones, or bustle in with food to have fun there. They hug and laugh with their relatives, pushing back against the weight of whatever illness or injury has brought them there. But in 2020, amid the latest surge of COVID-19 cases in Southern California and across the country — which on Thursday included 37 new deaths and more than 5,000 new cases in L.A. County alone — much of that has been curtailed. Hospitals and other facilities have implemented safe[See Thankful, A7]
Luis Sinco Los Angeles Times
G IVING THANKS, AL FRE SCO In a year of political upheaval and a deadly pandemic, a normal Thanksgiving celebration was off the table for many Southland families. Some took their spreads outdoors, while others took to protesting. A2
A tall order for L.A. restaurants Businesses, customers hope for the best as new shutdown begins. Here’s how the last meals — for now — looked across the county. GUSTAVO ARELLANO The dinner soundtrack at Michael’s on Naples for Wednesday was all about the sad slow jams — classic Motown, Gamble & Huff, Al Green. They tapped into the mood that night at the Long Beach bistro and at thousands of restaurants across Los Angeles County. It was the precious last hours before health officials had ordered all outdoor dining to stop for at least three weeks to try to slow down an explosive rise in coronavirus cases. Regulars packed into Michael’s two rooftop patios as much as social distancing protocols allowed. The staff was as attentive and cheerful as always, even though [See Arellano, A7]
Experts weigh in on restrictions Does the L.A. surge warrant new orders? Some perspective from epidemiologists and health officials. CALIFORNIA, B1
Pandemic is bringing uncertainty, hardship to state’s Main Streets As virus cases soar, small businesses at the heart of communities ponder their survival. By Hailey Branson-Potts Konstantinos Varelas twisted a string of blue komboloi — Greek worry beads — outside his family’s restaurant on Main Street in El Monte. The son of Greek and Mexican immigrants, Varelas was a child when his father bought Golden Ox Burgers. Back when the street was more alive. Back when they could count on people popping in for a pastrami sandwich or a quesadilla. Now, plexiglass divides workers from customers, who have their temperatures taken at the door before picking up food to go. The staff has been cut in half. People walk by less and less. And he fidgets more and
more with the worry beads he carries all the time in this pandemic year. “When Dad first got the restaurant, it was so busy you couldn’t walk along the street right here,” Varelas, the 23-year-old restaurant supervisor, said wistfully. “It used to be full of life and busy. Now, we’re lonely, I guess you could say.” Eight miles away, Aldo Santos wore a blue surgical mask while walking back to work after lunch. He lamented the quiet on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, where the Rose Parade has been canceled, stores keep closing, and the marquee outside the stately 1924 First United Methodist Church building reads: “Via Livestream Only.” “Colorado Boulevard is the main artery of Pasadena; everything comes through here. It’s been that way forever,” said Santos, 64. “But it’s not the same. I can’t say it’s a ghost town. It’s not empty, but it’s probably at [See Main Streets, A6]
Wally Skalij Los Angeles Times
WORKERS at Michael’s on Naples in Long Beach. The chef at Michael’s, which
follows strict health protocols, blames the shutdown partly on rule-breakers.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s conservative justices moved for the first time late Wednesday to block a governor’s COVID-19 restrictions, ruling that New York’s attempt to control rapidly spreading infections in churches and synagogues had violated constitutional religious freedoms. Newly seated Justice Amy Coney Barrett cast a key vote in a pair of 5-4 orders handed down just before midnight. Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Brooklyn and several congregations of Orthodox Jews had sued the governor, contending that the restrictions violated the 1st Amendment’s protections of the free exercise of religion. The rulings may not have much immediate impact because Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo had already lifted the 25-person limit in Brooklyn late last week. Citing that change, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court’s three liberals said there was no longer a reason to grant the emergency appeals. But the court’s five other conservatives issued an order that puts all states on notice that they must be careful that their efforts to control the pandemic do not impose limits on churches, synagogues and mosques deemed to be stricter than those on businesses or other places where large numbers of people might gather. The court’s ruling could soon affect California. Lawyers for the Harvest Rock Churches, including several in the Los Angeles area, filed an appeal this week asking the court to lift Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s restrictions on indoor church [See Court, A6]
COLUMN ONE
Caregivers share stories to find strength Brought together by the First AME Church, a group of women discuss their struggles caring for loved ones. By Marisa Gerber er hands pulsed with pain as she tried, once more, to tug a pair of super-tight socks over her husband’s toes and up his swollen legs. The compression socks would help his circulation, she reminded herself. They would help keep him out of the hospital. Helen Wynne — the full-time caregiver for her husband — took a deep breath and yanked. But a twinge crawled up her fingers and reverberated in her joints, a feeling she knew well after years of living with lupus and arthritis. [See Care, A12]
H
Brian van der Brug Los Angeles Times
MELISSA PHILLIPS gave group members folding fans from
the Dollar Tree. They hugged her as if she’d brought diamonds.
USC football game called off
Seeking shelter, then evicted
Saturday’s scheduled date with Colorado is canceled after positive coronavirus tests leave the Trojans too shorthanded. SPORTS, B6
Officers forcefully remove homeless families who had “reclaimed” vacant publicly owned houses. CALIFORNIA, B1
How to teach ethnic studies? After more than a year, state officials continue to debate a model curriculum. CALIFORNIA, B1 Robert Gauthier Los Angeles Times
THE TROJANS’ COVID-related game cancella-
tion is the third in the Pac-12 Conference this week.
Fight over rice boiling over India’s effort to gain special EU status for basmati exports irks Pakistan. WORLD, A3
Weather Sunny. L.A. Basin: 70/45. B10
BUSINESS INSIDE: Retail workers usually dread Black Friday. COVID adds to the fear. A8
Nxxx,2020-11-27,A,001,Bs-4C,E2
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Late Edition Today, periodic clouds and sunshine, unseasonably mild, high 60. Tonight, partly cloudy, low 48. Tomorrow, partly sunny, still rather mild, high 56. Weather map, Page B11.
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TRUMP APPOINTEES SHOW THEIR CLOUT IN RULING ON VIRUS Rebuke to States on Justices Scrap Limits on Congregations Reach of Power By ADAM LIPTAK
By JESSE McKINLEY and LIAM STACK
FEDERICO RIOS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Venezuelans making their way back home on a road leading out of Bogotá, Colombia, where the pandemic has taken away jobs.
Empty Pockets and No Home After 1,500 Miles Pandemic Puts Venezuelan Mother and Son on Endless Trek Between 2 Countries By JULIE TURKEWITZ and ISAYEN HERRERA
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — A little boy charges along the highway, his red plastic shoes glowing in the twilight. The suitcase he pulls weighs almost as much as he does. A truck throttles by, threatening to blow him off his feet. But Sebastián Ventura, who at just 6 has already taken on the role of family cheerleader, urges his family on. “To Venezuela!” he shouts. His mother, four months pregnant, rushes to keep up. There are hundreds of people on the highway that night, all Venezuelans who had fled their country’s col-
lapse before the pandemic and found refuge in Colombia. Now, after losing their jobs amid the economic crash that followed the virus, they are trying desperately to get back home, where at least they can rely on family. The global health crisis wrought by the coronavirus has played out most visibly in hospitals and cemeteries, its devastating toll clocked in cases and deaths, its aftermath tracked in lost work and shuttered businesses. But a second, less visible aspect of the catastrophe has unfolded on the world’s highways, as millions of migrants — Afghans, Ethiopians, Nicaraguans, Ukrainians
and others — have lost work in their adopted countries and headed home. The fortunate ones have found a haven upon return. But many have run out of money along the way, have been rejected at border crossings or have arrived in wartorn countries only to find their past lives burned to the ground. And so they have kept on moving. International aid groups have begun to call these people the pandemic’s “stranded migrants” — men, women and children who have been trying to get home since the virus began to spread. The International Organization for Migration said recently there
are at least 2.75 million of them. Among the most affected have been Venezuelans, who even before the pandemic formed one of the largest migration waves in the world. As the oil-rich nation crumbled in the grip of its authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, hunger became widespread and nearly five million people fled. But when the virus hit, Venezuelans living abroad were often the first to lose jobs in their adopted nations, the first to be evicted from pay-per-day apartments in cities like Lima, Quito and Bogotá, Colombia’s capital. In the first months of the pandemic, more than 100,000 VeneContinued on Page A14
ALBANY, N.Y. — As the coronavirus pandemic has deepened and darkened in recent months, the nation’s governors have taken increasingly aggressive steps to curb the current surge of infections, with renewed and expanded restrictions reaching into people’s homes, businesses, schools and places of worship. Many of these rules, often enacted by Democratic officials and enforced through curfews, closures and capacity limits, have been resisted by some members of the public, but largely upheld by the courts. Late Wednesday night, though, the U.S. Supreme Court forcefully entered the arena, signaling that it was willing to impose new constraints on executive and emergency orders during the pandemic, at least where constitutional rights are affected. In a 5-4 decision, the court struck down an order by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo that had restricted the size of religious gatherings in certain areas of New York where infection rates were climbing. The governor had imposed 10- and 25-person capacity limits on churches and other houses of worship in those areas. The decision seemed to signal that some governmental efforts to stem the pandemic had overreached, impinging on protected freedoms in the name of public Continued on Page A6
WASHINGTON — A few minutes before midnight on Wednesday, the nation got its first glimpse of how profoundly President Trump had transformed the Supreme Court. Just months ago, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was at the peak of his power, holding the controlling vote in closely divided cases and almost never finding himself in dissent. But the arrival of Justice Amy Coney Barrett late last month, which put a staunch conservative in the seat formerly held by the liberal mainstay, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, meant that it was only a matter of time before the chief justice’s leadership would be tested. On Wednesday, Justice Barrett dealt the chief justice a body blow. She cast the decisive vote in a 5to-4 ruling that rejected restrictions on religious services in New York imposed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to combat the coronavirus, shoving the chief justice into dissent with the court’s three remaining liberals. It was one of six opinions the court issued on Wednesday, spanning 33 pages and opening a window on a court in turmoil. The ruling was at odds with earlier ones in cases from California and Nevada issued before Justice Ginsburg’s death in September. Those decisions upheld restrictions on church services by 5-to-4 votes, with Chief Justice Roberts in the majority. The New York deContinued on Page A6
Patients Put at Risk as Russian Hackers Sabotage U.S. Hospitals By ELLEN BARRY and NICOLE PERLROTH
At lunchtime on Oct. 28, Colleen Cargill was in the cancer center at the University of Vermont Medical Center, preparing patients for their chemotherapy infusions. A new patient will sometimes be teary and frightened, but the nurses try to make it welcoming, offering trail mix and a warm blanket, a seat with a view of a garden. Then they work with extreme precision: checking platelet and
Wave of Recent Attacks May Be Retaliation, Experts Say white blood cell counts, measuring each dosage to a milligram per square foot of body area, before settling the person into a port and hooking them up to an IV. That day, though, Ms. Cargill did a double-take: When she tried to log in to her work station, it
booted her out. Then it happened again. She turned to the system of pneumatic tubes used to transport lab work. What she saw there was a red caution symbol, a circle with a cross. She walked to the backup computer. It was down, too. “I wasn’t panicky,” she said, “and then I noticed my cordless phone didn’t work.” That was, she said, the beginning of the worst 10 days of her career. Cyberattacks on America’s health systems have become their own kind of pandemic over the
past year as Russian cybercriminals have shut down clinical trials and treatment studies for the coronavirus vaccine and cut off hospitals’ access to patient records, demanding multimillion-dollar ransoms for their return. Complicating the response, President Trump last week fired Christopher Krebs, the director of CISA, the cybersecurity agency responsible for defending critical systems, including hospitals and elections, against cyberattacks, after Mr. Krebs disputed Mr. Continued on Page A20
SARAH PABST FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
A Legacy Larger Than the Field People in Argentina and all across Latin America remembered Diego Maradona as a soccer star and a hero of the left. Page A11.
To the Very End, a Presidency Haunted by One Word: Loser By DAN BARRY
BRENDAN M cDERMID/REUTERS
BRITTAINY NEWMAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
One Year, So Many Changes This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was kept to one block of 34th Street, left, and lacked last year’s crowds, right. Page A10.
In the now-distant Republican presidential primaries of 2016, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas handily won the Iowa caucuses. This was determined by a method that has lately come under attack but at the time was considered standard: elementary math. One of the losers in Iowa, the developer and television personality Donald J. Trump, soon accused Mr. Cruz of electoral theft. He fired off several inflammatory tweets, including this foreshadowing of our current democracy-testing moment: “Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.” The episode vanished in the tsunami of political vitriol to come during the Trump presidency. Still, it reflects what those who
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-10
NATIONAL A17-23
BUSINESS B1-6
INTERNATIONAL A11-16
Buffalo Reels Under 2nd Wave
All the President’s Opossums
‘Dream’ Mall Reopens, Slowly
337 Life Terms in Turkey
The number of coronavirus cases has increased tenfold over the past month in the western New York city and its suburbs, alarming officials. PAGE A4
The Bidens’ German shepherds will join a list of White House pets that haven’t always barked or meowed. PAGE A17
The American Dream complex in New Jersey began opening in 2019 after years of delays. But the pandemic stalled its larger unveiling. PAGE B1
The sentences were for defendants convicted of plotting or participating in an unsuccessful coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan four and a half years ago. PAGE A13
Split Over New Jersey Schools Gov. Philip D. Murphy wants children back in class. But officials at the local level have different ideas. PAGE A10 SPORTSFRIDAY B7-8
Ravens’ Jackson Has the Virus The news about Lamar Jackson, the N.F.L.’s 2019 M.V.P., threatened to upend Baltimore’s game on Sunday. PAGE B8
An Escape to the Grind Long pushed into vacant lots and side streets, skaters are getting more urban space at just the right time. PAGE A18
Tourist Traps Amid Poverty In China, the supposed wisdom of building huge statues in poorer areas to increase tourism is coming under harsh scrutiny. PAGE B1
Global Banks Feeling Pinch Britain and the European Union don’t trust each other much, and international banks in London are being caught in the middle. PAGE B1
have worked with Mr. Trump say is his modus operandi when trying to slip the humiliating epithet he has so readily applied to others. Loser. “The first thing he calls someone who has wronged him is a loser,” said Jack O’Donnell, who ran an Atlantic City casino for Mr. Trump in the 1980s. “That’s his main attack word. The worst thing in his world would be to be a loser. To avoid being called a loser, he will do or say anything.” Across his long career, he has spun, cajoled and attacked — in the press, in lawsuits and lately, of course, on Twitter — whenever faced with appearing as anything less than the superlative of the moment: the greatest, the smartest, the healthiest, the best. This has at times required audacious Continued on Page A22
WEEKEND ARTS C1-16
Cover-Up at E.U. Alleged The European Union’s border agency has been complicit in Greece’s illegal practice of pushing migrants back to Turkey, according to documents and interviews with officials. PAGE A12 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A24-25
David Brooks
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Business & Finance
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alesforce CEO Benioff’s effort to buy Slack, which is valued at $17 billion and would be his biggest acquisition yet, positions the company to take on Microsoft in key areas. A1
Barrett casts key vote as high court rejects state’s ability to curb gatherings in pandemic
The dollar hit its lowest levels against a basket of currencies in more than two years this week and investors think it will fall further. A1
Exxon Mobil has lowered its outlook on oil prices for much of the next decade, according to internal company documents. B1 German prosecutors are examining Ernst & Young’s role in the collapse of Wirecard, ratcheting up pressure on the audit firm. B10
Sycamore agreed to pay $540 million to buy Ann Taylor and other store brands from Ascena, the brands’ bankrupt parent said. B2
The Supreme Court blocked New York from imposing strict limits on attendance at religious services to combat Covid-19, with Justice Barrett casting the pivotal vote to depart from past cases that deferred to state authorities on public-health measures. A1, A6 Trump pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn, using his executive power to protect an ally who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. A4
With Trump’s drive to remain in office hitting a dead end, Senate Republicans are redoubling their efforts in Georgia, where a pair of runoffs will determine which party controls the Senate. A4
The president said he would leave the White House if the Electoral College elects Biden, but was noncommittal about attending an inauguration ceremony. A4
A top executive at AstraZeneca pushed back against criticism that the company failed to disclose enough data from a clinical trial of its Covid-19 vaccine this week. A7 The Army Corps of Engineers rejected environmental permits for the massive Pebble Mine in Alaska, a likely death blow for the project. A2 Ethiopia’s government began what it called the final phase of a military operation on the encircled capital of the rebel-run region of Tigray. A8 Saudi Arabia transferred the case of women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul to a terrorism court. A8 CONTENTS Arts in Review A10-11 Banking & Finance B10 Business News.. B3,5 Crossword............... A11 Heard on Street. B12 Mansion............. M1-10
Markets..................... B11 Opinion.............. A13-15 Sports........................ A12 Technology............... B4 U.S. News............. A2-7 Weather................... A11 World News...... A8,16
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BY AARON TILLEY
Salesforce.com Inc. Chief Executive Marc Benioff’s effort to buy Slack Technologies Inc., which is valued at $17 billion and would be his biggest acquisition yet, positions the company to take on Microsoft Corp. in key areas. Salesforce has thrived for years as a niche business-software vendor. The company is in advanced talks to buy Slack, The Wall Street Journal re-
ported on Wednesday. The potential tie-up suggests that Mr. Benioff, who has positioned himself as a prominent voice in American business, has the industry’s biggest player and long-time rival, Microsoft, in its sights, some analysts say. Salesforce and Slack could reach a deal within days, people familiar with the matter said, possibly by the time Salesforce reports its third-quarter financial results Tuesday. The deal would mark the company’s
TikTok Stars Prove Key to Fighting Ban
most direct attack on a market Microsoft has identified as critical to its growth. There is no guarantee the companies will reach an agreement. If they do, it would add fuel to Salesforce’s ambition to become the go-to software platform for business customers to use for everything from data analysis to managing customer relationships to even daily communication. The pandemic has amplified Salesforce’s efforts. When
INSIDE
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Jobless claims rose for the second straight week, a sign the nationwide surge in virus cases was starting to weigh on the labor-market recovery. A2
World-Wide
Salesforce’s Bid to Buy Slack Puts Microsoft in Crosshairs
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Disney plans to lay off a total of 32,000 employees by March, a further workforce cut that comes as the pandemic hits the firm’s theme-park businesses especially hard. B1
SIDELINE: The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade sent floats and bands down empty New York streets Thursday, as coronavirus restrictions barred crowds of spectators. This year’s parade was kept to the area near Macy’s flagship store.
WASHINGTON—A divided Supreme Court blocked New York from imposing strict limits on attendance at religious services to combat Covid-19, with new Justice Amy Coney Barrett casting the pivotal vote to depart from past cases that deferred to state authorities on public-health measures. In orders issued late Wednesday, the court, in a 5-4 vote, set aside attendance limits that Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo imposed on houses of worship in areas most severely affected by the coronavirus: 10 people in red zones and 25 in orange zones. New York classifies places where coronavirus infections are of increasing severity as yellow, orange or red. Chief Justice John Roberts and three liberal justices dissented. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox Jewish organization, alleged that the limits violated their First Amendment rights of religious exercise. The Supreme Court’s unPlease turn to page A6
.
Retailers are bracing for an unprecedented holiday shopping season, starting with the annual Black Friday ritual, set against the backdrop of a still-raging pandemic. B1
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Deutsche Bank executives want to expand in Russia. Outside monitors who watch over the bank’s money-laundering controls said it should shut the business instead. A1
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Their lawsuit was orchestrated by the app, according to people familiar with the effort
BY GEORGIA WELLS
In early September, a handful of TikTok stars, most of them in their early 20s, gathered on a Zoom call to tackle a weighty question: Should they take on the U.S. government? After more discussions, Doug Marland, a 23-year-old comedian from New Jersey, raised his hand to join a lawsuit objecting to the Trump administration’s order to ban the app. Two others—musician Alec Chambers and fashion designer Cosette Rinab— also volunteered. The three have a combined
7.4 million followers on TikTok and make their livings off the app. The suit argued that a ban would mean losing their income and limiting their ability to express themselves. The lawsuit got little attention when it was filed in a Pennsylvania court. The TikTok stars ultimately prevailed—and the case has become central in creating a path for the app to maintain its foothold in the U.S., where it is now used by almost one in three Americans. It looked like a grass-roots effort, but it was not. Behind Please turn to page A9
OBITUARY Diego Maradona, who led Argentina to a World Cup title with ‘Hand of God,’ 60. A12
ARTS IN REVIEW John Anderson reviews ‘Zappa,’ a documentary about the rock star savant. A10
Covid-19 broke out, Mr. Benioff quickly launched Work.com—a quickly suite of applications that companies could use for contract tracing, mental-health checks and shift scheduling. A deal for Slack could heat up a simmering rivalry with Microsoft. About five years ago Microsoft was in talks to buy Salesforce, but the deal fell apart over price. Salesforce lost out to Microsoft in 2016 in bidding for LinkedIn Corp., the Please turn to page A7
Investors Expect Weakened Dollar To Decline Further
BY PAUL J. DAVIES
The dollar hit its lowest levels against a basket of currencies in more than two years this week—and investors think it’ll fall further. The consensus view of a falling dollar is based on a big assumption: Covid-19 will be more or less conquered in the months ahead. Vaccines will allow economies around the world to return to normal within the next year, encouraging investors to step back from the relative safety of U.S. assets and invest in stocks, bonds and currencies outside the U.S. The slide in the dollar coincides with exuberance in the U.S. stock market, where the
Deutsche Bank Russia Exit Urged BY PATRICIA KOWSMANN AND JENNY STRASBURG Deutsche Bank AG executives want to expand in Russia despite a legacy of missteps and massive fines. Outside monitors who watch over the bank’s money-laundering controls said it should shut the business instead, a person familiar with the communications said.
The monitors, appointed by New York state’s Department of Financial Services, told the bank in October that efforts to improve its operation weren’t enough to make up for the large risks of doing business with Russian clients, the person said. A Deutsche Bank spokesman declined to comment on its dialogue with monitors, but said it is conducting a risk
analysis for several countries, including Russia. “As we work to continuously improve our controls in combating financial crime, our risk appetite must be in line with the maturity of those controls,� he added. A Department of Financial Services spokeswoman declined to comment. The monitors are attorneys Please turn to page A8
Courts face more cases on Covid-19 limits.......................... A6
Dow Jones Industrial Average pierced 30000 for the first time on Tuesday before retreating Wednesday. A weak dollar can help stocks with big overseas operations since it makes earnings in foreign currencies worth more in dollar terms. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of currencies from major trading partners such as Japan and the eurozone, slid below 92 this week, its lowest level since 2018, according to FactSet. It is down more than 10.5% since its March peak. A commentary from market strategists at Citigroup recently predicted the dollar Please turn to page A2
Salesforce. #1 CRM. Ranked #1 for CRM Applications based on IDC 2020H1 Revenue Market Share Worldwide.
19.8%
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Faux-meat market concocts new names; YamChops, Incogmeato BY JACOB BUNGE AND HEATHER HADDON Food scientists for decades have tinkered with plant proteins, starches and oils to make burgers that sizzle, bleed and taste like real beef, without harming a single steer. Then comes the hard part: formulating a name. Burger patties made from soy, yellow peas and coconut
Just call me delicious oil are well on their way to ubiquity, with new and moreconvincing versions landing on Burger King and Dunkin’
Brands Group Inc. menus and in Kroger Co. and Walmart Inc. meat sections over the last few years. The race for a piece of the plant-based surge also tests companies’ ability to concoct names that are appealing, memorable, and not too corny. Last year MorningStar Farms, a division of Kellogg Co., introduced “Incogmeato� and Spam maker Hormel Foods Please turn to page A9
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Source: IDC, Worldwide Semiannual Software Tracker, October 2020.
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